OWC ThunderBay 4 8TB 4-Bay Thunderbolt 2 RAID Array (4 x 2TB, RAID 5 Edition)
$499.85
In stock
Description
Add 8TB of Thunderbolt 2 storage to your Mac with the ThunderBay 4 8TB 4-Bay Thunderbolt 2 RAID Array (4 x 2TB, RAID 5 Edition) from OWC / Other World Computing. These drives are pre-configured for RAID 5 via software. 8TB provides you with plenty of space to store files such as music, photos, movies, and documents, but this array also allows you to operate a production workflow with 2K video, 4K video, and audio.
Within the array are four bays that each house a single 2TB hard drive. Each included 3.5″ drive connects to the array via the SATA III 6 Gb/s interface and has a rotational speed of 7200 rpm. Since the array ships with four drives, they can be software configured as RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, and 1+0, each of which offers performance, data redundancy, or a combination of both. This array comes pre-formatted and is software configured as a RAID 5 volume.
This volume will be recognized on systems running with OS X 10.9.3 and later, and requires the included SoftRAID 5 via download for Mac OS X 10.8.5 or earlier. RAID 5 allows read speeds of up to 534 MB/s and write speeds of up to 534 MB/s.
The ThunderBay 4 comes with two Thunderbolt 2 ports which allow you to daisy-chain up to six devices such as additional ThunderBays, 4K displays, and more. Thunderbolt 2 offers a single 20 Gb/s bi-directional channel that allows you to stream and write 4K video at the same time. To help ensure a smooth operating environment, the array uses a 92mm noise-quieting fan.
Included with this ThunderBay 4 array is SoftRAID XT, a 3.3′ Thunderbolt cable, a 3-prong power cable, and two keys for the front panel lock.
Additional information
| Weight | 16.3 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 16 × 15 × 12 in |
| Number of Bays | 4 x 2.5"/3.5" |
| AC Input Power | 100 to 240 VAC, 50 / 60 Hz |
| Cooling | 1 x 92 mm Fan |
| Storage Shock | 175 G / 2.0 ms |
| Operating Shock | 65 G / 2.0 ms |
| Storage Vibration | 5 G / 5 to 500 Hz |
| Operating Vibration | 1 G / 5 to 300 Hz |
| Storage Humidity | 5 to 95% |
| Storage Temperature | -40 to 149°F / -40 to 65°C |
| Operating Humidity | 8 to 90% |
| Operating Temperature | 41 to 107°F / 5 to 42°C |
| DC Input Power | VDC at 16.66 A |
| Power Source | AC Adapter |
| Connections | 2 x Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt 2 (20 Gb/s)) |
| Pre-Format | None |
| Initial RAID Configuration | RAID 5 |
| Cache Memory per Drive | 32 MB |
| Rotational Speed | 7200 rpm |
| Type | Hard Disk Drive |
| Total Raw Capacity | 8 TB (4 x 2 TB) |
| OS Compatibility | macOS 10.9 or Later |
| RAID Modes | RAID 0, 0+1, 1, 4, 5, JBOD |
| Maximum RAID Transfer Rate | 534 MB/s (Read in RAID 5)<br />546 MB/s (Write in RAID 5) |
| Form Factor | Desktop |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 9.7 x 5.3 x 7" / 245.1 x 134.9 x 176.8 mm |
Reviews (8)
8 reviews for OWC ThunderBay 4 8TB 4-Bay Thunderbolt 2 RAID Array (4 x 2TB, RAID 5 Edition)
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Kennedi Von (verified owner) –
Dead simple setup with my new Mac Studio. OWC’s support is excellent, from the initial purchase decision to installation (and I presume support down the road). Only minor complaint is the fan noise. A lot quieter than my old Promise Pegasus raid but still noticeable.
Aubree Runte (verified owner) –
This DAS device is a real workhorse and has worked flawlessly for me. It is very fast at transferring data which is important to me. Very happy with my purchase!
Verla Corwin (verified owner) –
The physical product is great, large drives and a solid metal housing, and they’re pretty fast. The problem I have is with the software, SoftRAID. First time setting up I it did not go smoothly, had to do a bunch of reading and research to even show up as a drive on my mac. I have an M1 Mac and this drive does not show up eiter. They advertise this a plug and play, it’s not. You’ll likely need to do technical reading, validation, lots of restarting your comp, and waiting. The SoftRAID program is strange, it will randomly pop up windows recommending a update. If you unplug the drive from your computer it pops up at least seperate 4 windows notifying you. I’d really recommend using a different software for this.
Cloyd Graham (verified owner) –
First the good news: This drive is nicely compact, clean look, and quiet enough on a desk. The not so good news: The setup guide is short on details and made the setup more difficult than necessary. I discovered some limitations of this unit compared to other RAID drives I have previously owned (not in literature). I found the tech support, so far, hit & miss depending who you connect with. The software interface used to manage the device is basic compared to other manufacturers I’m familiar with.
Vallie Streich (verified owner) –
Fantastic product! Relatively quiet for what it is; goes great under my desk instead of on top of it. Ready to use right out of the box. I do wish the cord was a little longer. BUT kind of annoying that after paying for such a great item I also have to go buy software to run an actual RAID on it. Sure people do different things on these enclosures. But tacking on another 50 or 100 bucks to the price to get it to the most common functions of the advertised process feels cheap or better nickel-and-dimed.
Lolita Gleason (verified owner) –
Bought raid to handle over two weeks worth of shooting 4k. Working well so far, and definitely a bit faster/efficient than my previous way of working with a bunch of drives daisy chained together!
Erica Howe (verified owner) –
I attempted to use this device on two different Windows computers and tried multiple Thunderbold 3 to Thunderbold 3 cables (including the one that was included in the packaging). The out of the box (RAID5) peak transfer speed was 120/MBs – and the average was 70MBs. The advertised peak transfer speed is 704/MBs On the third contact with OWC support, the agent admitted that this device is known to have extremely slow transfer speeds on Windows. The agent was unable to provide information on whether a fix was in the pipeline. I would consider this device unusable for Windows users despite claims of Windows compatibility on their website and packaging.
Charlie Schimmel (verified owner) –
Several times now I keep getting SoftRaid Volume Locked, to avoid data corruption. It advises restarting your computer. It takes forever to shut down. And then the fan suddenly hisses in a short burst before rebooting. On one occasion I had to re-arrange my display preferences in the Control pannels as somehow that was affected also. Info reports error is known and they are expecting a fix from Apple. This is not really acceptable at this price. Also, the drive is really clunky noisy requiring a really expensive optical Thunderbolt cable to put it in another room or closet. Other than these annoying qualities it seems to work well. I had Caldigit drives before and had none of these issues. They are cheaper than the others so despite the flaws there is still value. The noise is really not good though. They should include a long TB cable with this box. As it is $250.00 to buy one. I would see if there are other drives that do not have these issues. Too late for me, I bought two of these. So twice the troubles.